BONUS LESSON - My Ten Favorite Watercolor Pigments

I have other paints on my palette, which I use, of course -- but these are my favorites:



1.  Quinacridone Gold  -- I love this color!  Beautifully transparent and brilliant -- glazes nicely.  You've gotta have this color if you paint sunflowers!

2.  Quinacridone Burnt Orange -- This has replaced Burnt Sienna on my palette.  A "magic" color -- mixes fine with all colors and glazes very well.

3.  Quinacridone Magenta -- Another "magic" color!  Mixes well with other colors.  I use it for mixing darks and for doing value paintings.  It can easily be pushed to blue violet by adding French Ultramarine.

4.  Cobalt Blue -- A good, all-purpose transparent blue -- except for darks.  But, it is great as a glaze, and used as a cool for skin color, and for a green when mixed with aureolin yellow.

5.  Aureolin Yellow -- Transparent cool yellow (I know, that sounds like an oxymoron) -- makes nice variety of greens when mixed with different blues.

6.  Quinacridone Rose -- Necessary for portraits, as well as flowers -- also glazes beautifully.  I am very fond of all the quinacridone colors.

7.  French Ultramarine Blue  -- A good, warm blue.  Mixes nicely with magenta and/or rose for violets, but can also be mixed with aureolin and/or quin gold for olive greens.

8.  Phthalo Blue -- A beautiful staining and transparent color.  Makes wonderful darks and pretty greens, but easy to overdo -- it can overwhelm a mixture.

9.  Raw Sienna -- Good for glazing, to set back something in space, or to cut the intensity of a color.

10. Cadmium Red -- Great for a pop of color, or when painting poppies or cherries!  Not good for mixing with anything, except other cadmium colors.



Try some of these colors, use them for awhile, and see if they don't also become your favorites.

LESSON IV - Part 4: Painting Sunflowers Challenge

In this painting challenge, I will include pictures of students' paintings, from one of my workshops.  They are included to give you ideas, as well as to illustrate the different steps.  But, I'd like for you to draw and paint from either a real sunflower . . .

 . . . or you can use my marker drawing of sunflowers as a reference . . .

 . . . or take and use a close-up photo of a sunflower.


While looking at your reference, do a contour drawing in pencil of the sunflower.  Draw 1, 2, or 3 sunflowers, including their stems and the leaves.

Draw a "frame" around the flowers, so that some of the petals and leaves spill out over the frame.

Now, paint a wet-in-wet mingling, using your warm and cool yellows.  Just paint this yellow underpainting on the sunflowers and stems and leaves -- not onto the background. . .

Now, start to develop the shapes.  Working petal by petal, start adding colors, like gold, or raw sienna, or orange.  Stay transparent, and try not to cover up all the yellows of your underpainting.  You can add a little sap green to the inside of your flower. 

Now, paint the green stems and leaves.  Stay transparent, and vary the greens.  If you use a tube green, add another color to it -- gold to warm it up, blue to cool it down.

Introduce burnt sienna to your flower -- for the darks in the petals, and the middle of the sunflower.  Use salt in the middle, for texture.

Mix up a nice dark color for your background.  Use a blue, like French Ultramarine or Phthalo Blue, and add Burnt Sienna and Alizarin Crimson to it, to make it dark.  

Paint the background shapes with this dark color.  Don't worry about getting an even wash -- use enough water to keep it moving -- and, try not to go back over what you've painted.  

You can see all the different versions . . . 

Have fun with this challenge -- I'll be anxious to see your version of the sunflowers!

LESSON IV - Part 3: Small Vegetable Studies

For this series of 5 vegetable studies, use small pieces of watercolor paper, square or rectangular.  For each of these, do a contour drawing first, in pencil.  Then, for each vegetable, do a yellow underpainting first, even if your vegetable is green or orange or red.

1.  Draw and paint some gourds.  Use warm colors, and use a warm color (like burnt sienna) for the background.  

2.  Draw and paint another gourd -- this one can be more patterned.  Paint a wet-on-wet background, using cool colors, like blue and rose.

3.  Draw and paint two bell peppers.  Remember to paint a yellow underpainting on the peppers, and bring that yellow onto the tabletop.  Add a horizontal line for the table, and paint the background dark colors, mingling them on the paper.  Use blue for the cast shadows.

4.  Draw and paint some peppers, on a simple patterned tablecloth.

5.  Draw and paint 2 more bell peppers, painting cool colors in the background.  Keep the background very soft.

LESSON IV - Part 2: Sketchbook Assignment - Contour Drawing

A contour drawing is a line drawing that describes the outer and inner form of an object or a person.  Sounds simple, right?  But, it's one of the most important things I ever learned.

Contour drawing requires close attention and patience -- but, it will improve your concentration and focus, and your eye-hand coordination (ability to draw what you see).  When contour drawing, we try to combine two experiences -- touching and looking.

Grab your sketchbook, and a pen (so you won't be tempted to erase), and try a few contour drawings.

1.)  Draw your shoe, still attached to your foot.  (These drawings are just examples from my sketchbooks.  It's important that you draw from life, not from these drawings.)

Focus your eyes on some point on your subject -- any point -- along the contour (edge) of the subject  Imagine that your pencil or pen point is touching the subject.  Keeping your eye on the subject, follow the contours of the object, with continuous lines -- no sketchy lines and no erasing.

2.)  Draw your feet.  (Don't worry about how "pretty" your drawing is . . . )

Move your eye slowly along the contour of the object, and move your pen slowly along the paper.  Try to feel that you are not just looking at it, but also touching the object with your pencil.

Look at your subject more than at your paper.  In fact, try not to draw while you're looking at your paper -- only draw while you're looking at your subject.  Take your time -- don't be impatient or too quick.

3.)  Draw some natural forms, which offer the most variation, like some flowers in your garden . . . 

(there should not be any shading in a contour drawing)

4.)  Fill up an entire page in your sketchbook, with contour drawings of your left hand (if you're right-handed) -- in different poses.

Occasionally, the contour line you're drawing may leave the edge of the subject and eventually come to an end.  Then, glance at your paper, and choose another point to start again.  Or, when you come to a point where one object or part of an object disappears behind another, stop.  Then begin drawing the visible contour of the overlapping shape.

And, don't be misled by shadows.  Your pencil should move on the edge of the form, not the edge of a shadow.

5.)  Draw the leaves of a houseplant . . . 

LESSON IV - Part 1: Painting Lemons

Lemons are an ideal subject to study the color Yellow.

In this project, we will be using different techniques to paint our lemons -- salt for texture, transparent layering, negative painting, and mingling.

You'll need a few lemons for models and some salt (any kind will do).  I used 6 different pigments -- Aureolin Yellow, New Gamboge, Quinacridone Gold, Raw Sienna, Quinacridone Burnt Orange, and Quinacridone Magenta.  (If you don't have those exact pigments, use something similar.)

Do a pencil drawing of your lemons, and indicate a tabletop and some cast shadows . . . 

Now, prep two colors on your palette, to use for the first wash -- Aureolin Yellow (a cool yellow) and New Gamboge (warm).  And, have some salt handy.  Wet each lemon separately, and then paint these two yellows onto each lemon.  Allow some of the yellow to move into the shadow.  When there is just a sheen on your paper, sprinkle on some salt.  Do this for each lemon, and let this dry completely. . . 

When this is totally dry, brush off the salt before proceeding.  Mix a light wash of Quinacridone Magenta (or something similar).  Paint the background with this wash, down to the tabletop.  Then paint the cast shadows with this wash.  Wet the area first with clear water and then paint the magenta.  Let this dry completely . . . 

For your next layer, use the New Gamboge and Quinacridone Gold on the outside of the lemons.  Do each lemon separately again, wetting each one with clear water and dropping in the color.  Sprinkle some salt onto this layer, too.  While this is drying, mix a less intense yellow, using Aureolin and a little Raw Sienna.  Use this to do some negative painting on the inside of the cut lemons.  Paint the triangles, leaving a sliver of "light" between the triangles and around the rim. . . 

After all this is dry, brush off the salt.  Now, add some form to the lemons by painting in a little Burnt Sienna (or Quinacridone Burnt Orange).  Don't add salt to this layer. . . 

Mix a dark, using the Quin Burnt Orange and the Quin Magenta.  Use this mixture to add a few darks to the stem area of the middle lemon, and to the part of the cast shadows, directly below the lemons.  Paint it onto dry paper, and then soften the edge with a damp brush . . . 

Can't you just smell them?  Now, just slice your lemons into a glass of ice water, and enjoy!

LESSON IV - Yellow . . . Plus, a few Extras

Lesson IV is all about not-so-mellow YELLOW, with a few bonus lessons included.


YELLOW is the color we associate with light and sunshine, daffodils and sunflowers.

Here are 10 important things about the color YELLOW that I think everyone who paints in watercolor should know:

1 - YELLOW ATTRACTS THE EYE LIKE A MAGNET, so use yellow for cheery, optimistic, and spiritual paintings.  Yellow is sunny and bright, energizing and hopeful.  Yellow is upbeat (to Western minds, anyway) -- and is one of the primary colors in Native American art.

2 - YOU HAVE TO INTRODUCE ANOTHER COLOR TO YELLOW, TO DARKEN IT -- Yellow is an inherently light value.  Of all the colors, yellow reflects the greatest amount of light.  No matter how intense and saturated your yellow is, and no matter how many layers of yellow you paint on top of each other, it will not get much darker.  So, in order to get a darker value of yellow in a painting, you have to introduce another color, but still stay within the yellow family -- like Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Orange, Burnt Sienna, or Raw Sienna.

3 - YELLOW IS ONE OF THE THREE PRIMARY COLORS -- which means you can't mix two colors together to get yellow.  Yellow mixes with the other two primary colors to get secondary colors. Yellow + Blue = Green.  Yellow + Red = Orange.  Good analogous color schemes for yellow in a painting are Yellow plus the Earth Colors, like Raw and Burnt Siennas; and Yellow plus its "Friendly Neighbors" (yellow-green and yellow-orange).

4 - ONCE YOU PUT A YELLOW WASH OVER A GRAPHITE PENCIL LINE, YOU CANNOT ERASE THE PENCIL LINE.  (Just a heads up!)

5 - IF YOU WANT YOUR PAINTINGS TO HAVE A WARM GLOW, ALWAYS PAINT THE YELLOW FIRST, AS AN UNDERPAINTING.  Yellow will light up your painting like no other color.  You can't make colors glow just by using bright mixtures -- they need to be luminous.  Strive for a GLOW -- not intensity.  You can create this glow by underpainting with yellow first, and also by dropping yellow into other wet pigments.  It is best to use yellows as brilliantly and cleanly as possible. An underpainting of yellow can establish the impression of sunshine.  And, any warm color (reds/greens/browns) will benefit from a yellow underpainting.

6 - YELLOW DOES NOT DO WELL ON TOP OF OTHER PIGMENTS.  Even though yellow is the lightest and most delicate color, it becomes opaque and loses its luminosity when painted over other pigments.  So, in watercolor, you should not glaze yellow over another color in order to try to get a lighter or brighter color.  Adding yellow on top will not increase the glow.  It just becomes opaque, because the light cannot penetrate through to the paper.

7 - PUT YELLOW NEXT TO ITS COMPLEMENT, VIOLET; BUT, DO NOT MIX THESE TWO COMPLEMENTS TOGETHER.  The Yellow/Violet harmony is exotic, beautiful, and bright -- when placed side by side (some irises have this combination in nature, as well as violets, columbine, and some sunsets).  But, they are not very pretty when mixed together -- instead, you get a muddy color.  I think it's called puce (yuck).  

8 - HAVE A WARM AND A COOL VERSION OF YELLOW ON YOUR PALETTE.  All yellows are not created equal.  Color temperature is relative.  When we're talking about the entire color wheel, or the whole color spectrum, the warm colors are the yellows/oranges/reds -- the colors of sunlight and fire.  But, when we're talking about the yellow color family, it is good to have a cool yellow, like Aureolin Yellow, or Winsor Yellow.  They have the greatest mixing potential -- making beautiful greens and vibrant oranges, and are also effective as under paintings.  Your warm yellow could be New Gamboge or Cadmium Yellow, which are warm, intense yellows, and good to use as underpaintings for reds/oranges/browns.

9 - STAY AWAY FROM LEMON YELLOW, OR LIGHT YELLOW.  (That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.)  It's not intense or saturated/pure enough for a yellow.  And, because it has white in it (at least, most brands), it is not transparent, and any color it is mixed with, will tend to look "chalky".  If you want a light color of yellow, just add more water to your cool yellow (Aureolin or Winsor).

10 - QUINACRIDONE GOLD IS HEAVEN IN A TUBE!  Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but it is a very powerful, brilliant, transparent color.  It's beautiful on its own, but it is also great for darkening other yellows with muddying them.  Raw Sienna is another useful color, for glazing over an area to reduce its intensity.  Because it is an unsaturated (duller) yellow, it has reduced mixing potential.

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In Part 1, you will be painting lemons.  In Part 2, you will be learning and practicing contour drawing.  In Part 3, you'll be painting some small vegetable studies, and in Part 4, you'll paint some sunflowers, for your painting challenge.  For a bonus lesson, I will talk a bit about materials -- paper and pigments.

LESSON III - Part 5: Negative Painting Challenge

For this Challenge, refer to --

Part 2: Negative Painting a Radial Design

but, this time, look at a close-up of a dahlia for your drawing, with its pointy petals . . .

 And, rather than using the yellows and golds in the Part 2 project -- this time, use cooler colors like pinks and purples.  Start the painting with pinks (reds with lots of water), and as you progress through the painting, add cool reds (like Alizarin Crimson and Magenta), and finish with Purples/Violets.  Don't try to reproduce this photograph -- just use it as reference for your drawing.

LESSON III - Part 4: Painting White Flowers with Patterned Background

In this project, we will be starting with a wet-in-wet MINGLING, doing some NEGATIVE PAINTING, and LIFTING out a pattern in the background.

You will see how much color you can have in your "white" flowers, and you'll learn how to make sure that your patterned background STAYS in the background.


Use these two photos as reference for your flowers . . .

For this painting, I used 7 pigments -- Aureolin Yellow, Quinacridone Rose, Cobalt Blue, Quinacridone Magenta, French Ultramarine, Sap Green, and Quinacridone Burnt Orange.  (If you don't have these exact pigments, just use something similar.)

Begin your painting with a wet-in-wet mingling on stretched watercolor paper, using yellow, rose, and cobalt blue.  Wet the paper with clear water.  Then, leaving a little white off to one side, paint a ring of yellow, then the rose, then the blue.  Drop in a little yellow, rose, and blue on the left side of the paper, too . . . 

After this underpainting is completely dry, draw a large lily, right of center.  Take the ends of 2 or 3 of the petals off the paper.  (In other words, don't squeeze the petals, so they will "fit".)  Then, draw two stems, a bud, and a few big leaves . . . 

Paint the bud, the stem, the leaves, and the tops of the stamens with a yellow wash; and, let it dry . . . 

Mix up a very light blue wash (using Cobalt Blue), and paint only the negative space with this blue.  Don't paint anything that you've drawn (your positive shapes) -- only the background.  Don't wet the paper first -- Just paint this light blue wash onto the dry paper, working your way around the positive shapes . . . 

When that is totally dry, draw two more lilies with their stems and a few more leaves.  Once again, take these flowers off the edges, so that you break up the negative space into interesting smaller shapes . . 

Now, to the blue wash that is still on your palette, add some French Ultramarine, and a little of the Magenta, to make a blue-violet wash.  Make sure there is plenty of water, and that it is more blue than purple.  Paint only the negative shapes with this wash, onto dry paper . . . 

After the background is dry, we will "lift" out a pattern in the background.  We are lifting out, instead of "masking", the lines -- because we want the pattern to be subtle, so that it stays in the background.  If we were to use masking, the patterned lines would be too definite, so that they would come forward in space, competing with the flowers.  

Using a damp brush with a good point, draw a spiral with your brush. (it doesn't have to be a perfect spiral) . . . 

Then, blot it with a paper towel . . . 

Repeat this process until you can see the spiral . . . 

Move around the background, lifting spirals, until the entire background is covered with this spiral pattern.  No need to draw this first with a pencil, and don't worry if your spirals aren't perfect -- it's actually better if they're not. . . 

Now, start painting the stems and the tops of the stamens, with a mixture of Burnt Orange (Burnt Sienna) and Magenta.  Then, paint a green wash on the bud, the leaves, and the stamens and pistil -- using a mixture of Cobalt Blue and Aureolin Yellow.  Keep the green transparent (use enough water), so some of the yellow glows through . . . 

Continue painting the stems and the tops of the stamens, using a darker mixture of Burnt Orange & Magenta, with a little French Ultramarine added.  

Paint a darker value on parts of the leaves and the bud, using Sap Green -- and adding a little Magenta to the bud, and a little Blue to the leaves . . . 

Create some dimension and form to the petals, by painting a light Cobalt Blue to some areas, and by dropping in some light Magenta to the underside of the petals (paint the shape with clear water first).  Darken some areas of the flowers, as necessary -- just don't go too dark on the petals, because these are still white flowers . . .